Generally, an ice maker comprises an ice making mold with a plurality of ice making cavities containing water therein to be frozen by cold air generated from a freezer of a refregerator and making water into ice cubes.
As shown in FIG. 1, a conventional refrigerator having a freezing compartment F and a refrigerating compartment R therein, which are divided each other by a barrier 101, comprises a body 102 in which a refrigerating system is equipped for cooling the freezing compartment F and the refrigerating compartment R to low temperature, the freezing compartment door 103 connected to the body 102 for opening and closing a freezing compartment F, and a refrigerating compartment door 104 connected to the body 102 for opening and closing the refrigerating compartment R.
The refrigerating system comprises a compressor for compressing refrigerant of low temperature and pressure, a condenser in which the refrigerant of high temperature and pressure through the compressor radiates heat toward outside air and is condensed, an expanding device in which the refrigerant condensed in the condenser is decompressed, and an evaporator in which the refrigerant expanded in the expanding device absorbes heat of air circulated from the freezing compartment F and the refrigerating compartment R and is evaporated.
Recently, it is a general tendency that an automatic ice maker is provided in the refrigerator such that ice cubes can be taken out after ice cubes are made using cold air in the freezing compartment F.
The ice maker comprises an ice maker 105 which is provided in an upper part of an inner side of the freezing compartment F and makes the supplied water into ice cubes by cold air in the freezing compartment F, an ice bank 106 which is provided in an inner side of the freezing compartment F for releasing the ice cubes made in the ice maker 105 and containing the ice therein, a dispenser 107 which is provided in a freezing compartment door 103 for extracting the ice cubes to the outside without opening and closing the freezing compartment door 103, and a chute 108 for guiding the ice cubes in the ice bank 106 to be dropped to the dispenser 107.
As shown in FIG. 2 to FIG. 4, the ice maker 105 comprises an ice making mold 12 having a plurality of ice making cavities for making ice cubes, a water supply cup for supplying water to the ice making cavities of the ice making mold 12, a heater 16 for melting and separating the frozen ice cubes from the ice making mold 12, an ejector 18 for ejecting the ice cubes made in the ice making mold 12, a stripper 20 provided for sliding and dropping the ejected ice cubes to the ice bank 106, and an ice making controller 22 for controlling water supply to the water supply cup 14 and also controlling the heater 16 and the ejector 18.
Further, the ice making mold 12 is provided with a plurality of partitions 12 a for dividing an ice making space of the ice making mold 12 into a plurality of cavities. The heater 16 is provided in a bottom wall of the ice making mold 12 for partially melting the frozen ice cubes and separating them from the ice making mold 12.
Further, the ejector 18 is positioned such that an ejector shaft 18a thereof goes across a upper side of a center of the ice making mold 12. The ejector shaft 18a is formed with a plurality of ejector pins 18b protruded toward a side surface thereof.
The ejector shaft 18a has a one end which is protruded into the ice making controller 22 and connected to a driven gear 18c, and the ice making controller 22 contains a motor 23 for generating a driving force for rotating the ejector 18 and a temperature sensor 24 for measuring the temperature of the ice making mold 12.
A driving gear 23a engaged with the driven gear 18c is connected to a shaft of the motor 23, and the temperature sensor 24 is closely mounted on a sidewall of the ice making mold 12 opposite to the sidewall of the ice making mold 12 where the water supply cup 14 is mounted and measures the temperature of the ice making mold 12.
However, in the ice maker 105 having the above-mentioned structure, several components such as the ejector 18, the motor 23, the stripper 20, and so on for extracting the frozen ice cubes there from have been used and thus the structure thereof was complex. Thus, there have been several drawbacks in that price competitiveness of products was lowered due to many components for the ice maker 105 and also maintenance and repairs of the ice maker 105 were difficult.
Meanwhile, referring to an ice maker disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,248 as shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6, the ice maker 200 for a freezer F of a refrigerator comprises a double-sided ice cube tray 202 having a housing 201, and first ice cube cavities 203 are formed in an upper part of the double-sided ice cube tray 202 and second ice cube cavities 204 are formed in a lower part of the double-sided ice cube tray 202.
The ice maker 200 further comprises a means for rotating the housing 201 from an upper position to a lower position and vice versa.
Consequently, the ice maker 200 can repeat operations of ice making and ice-release by rotating the double-sided ice cube tray 202 of the ice maker 200 using the rotation means.
That is, water is supplied to the first ice cube cavities 203 of the double-sided ice cube tray 202 through a water supply tube 205, the double-sided ice cube tray 202 is rotated by the rotation means if the supplied water is frozen and ice making thereof is finished, in this state, water is again supplied to the second ice cube cavities 204 facing upward, and the ice-separating operation is performed in the first ice cube cavities 203 facing downwardly during the ice making operation in the second ice cube cavities 204.
In addition, the rotation means comprises a solenoid 211 mounted in the freezer F by a bracket 210 and also has a plunger 212 that serves as a locking device to the solenoid 211. The plunger 212 is engaged with a pinion 213 such that the pinion 213 can be rotated one-half turn in one direction or the other way around.
The pinion 213 is fixedly attached to a shaft 214, and is rotatably mounted to the freezer F of the refrigerator by bearings 215 which are fixedly attached to both ends of the shaft 214, respectively.
Other such means for rotating the housing 201 may comprise a linear motor in place of the solenoid 211. Also, a motor connected to the shaft 214 for reversible rotation of the housing 201 can be adopted.
However, because the means for rotating the double-sided ice cube tray 202 is complicatedly constructed in the ice maker 200, a lot of cost and labor is required in manufacturing of the ice maker 200. As a result, the maintenance and repairs of the ice maker 200 were difficult, and price competitiveness of products was lowered due to the expensive unit cost of parts for the rotating means.